1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliding bed used in the care or nursing of the elderly or disabled (hereinafter, “patient”) and designed so as to lessen the burden of a patient in a hospital or the like when getting into or out of a bed, or to lessen the burden of a caregiver for such patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional nursing beds for the disabled, the predominant art involves the raising up of the upper body of a patient. With just this art, however, a patient cannot get up by himself, nor can he lower his feet from the bed and assume a position as of sitting in a chair. Therefore, this is disadvantageous when considered from the perspective of patient treatment or rehabilitation, as the circulation of the bodily fluids throughout the entire body and the use of muscles throughout the body are far lower than for a healthy person; in addition, being unable to assume a state similar to sitting in a chair is disadvantageous when considered from the point of view of relieving stress and improving the psychological state of a patient.
For this reason, art has been proposed to allow a seat and back rest portion to move laterally, as can be seen in Japanese Utility Model Registration #3038378 or Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2000-042053. Moving the seat or back rest portion laterally allows a patient to lower his feet from a bed, giving the patient the feeling of sitting in a bed.
In the sliding beds described in Japanese Utility Model Registration #3038378 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2000-042053, the load on the sliding portion of the bed is supported by leg members, preventing the bed from tipping over during sliding.
However, when considered from the perspective of patient care, treatment, and safety, it is preferable that the height of the bed be such that the bed is positioned as close to the floor as possible when the patient is sleeping. For the person providing care, it is preferable that the bed height be raised, to a height that allows a caregiver to give care more efficiently. For this reason, in recent years, it has become standard for nursing beds or beds for the disabled to be configured to allow bed height to be changed.
In addition, when moving a patient on a sliding bed into a wheelchair or onto a portable toilet, having the height of the patient's waist when on the bed higher than the height of the wheelchair and the like results in improved efficiency in care-giving work, as a caregiver can take advantage of the difference in heights when moving the patient. Thus it is preferable that the height of a sliding bed be adjustable.
Further, because individual patients will have different body sizes, with the lengths of patients' legs in particular varying from individual to individual, it is difficult to adjust bed height to match individual patients.
Further, as in the art disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Registration #3038378 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2000-042053, in cases of a configuration where a sliding portion is not supported by leg members, but support members are provided extending directly from the frame of the bed main body, the load on the sliding portion is centered on the bed end part on the slide side of the movement mechanism, and when a patient is placed thereupon, it is heavy and difficult to move. In addition, a bed used by patients needs to be disinfected or otherwise sterilized periodically, and a metal slide mechanism used in a slide bed can easily suffer from rusting or other such corrosion. In addition, it is necessary to bear in mind that, including the weight of the patient, a load of 100 kg or greater will bear upon the slide mechanism.